Nvidia is still holding out, but with open source AMD code available it may start feeling the pressure soon.

Developers need more, but these moves could bring AMD's ATI subsidiary market share in more than gaming systems. High-end CAD and medical markets can now have "clean" Linux implementations free of proprietary restraints.

Linux netbooks may also get a boost if they're encouraged by game designers to put ATI chips into their specifications.

I admit my first thought on hearing this was, "Oh, another market flailure tosses open source code over the side." (Yes, the first l in flailure is intentional. They haven't failed yet, but they are flailing.)

That's not entirely true. In graphics AMD is quite competitive. Now, in 2009, it will be more so.

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